Smile of the Day Monday October 11, 2021

Monday October 11, 2021’s Smile of the Day: Roll Film

On this Day:

In 1881, David Houston patented roll film for cameras. Surprisingly, it wasn’t George Eastman (i.e. Kodak)!

Rollfilm or roll film is any type of spool-wound photographic film protected from white light exposure by a paper backing, as opposed to film which is protected from exposure and wound forward in a cartridge. The term originated in contrast to sheet film. Confusingly, roll film was originally often referred to as “cartridge” film because of its resemblance to a shotgun cartridge.

The opaque backing paper allows roll film to be loaded in daylight. It is typically printed with frame number markings which can be viewed through a small red window at the rear of the camera. A spool of roll film is usually loaded on one side of the camera and pulled across to an identical take up spool on the other side of the shutter as exposures are made. When the roll is fully exposed, the take up spool is removed for processing and the empty spool on which the film was originally wound is moved to the other side, becoming the take up spool for the next roll of film.

In 1881 a farmer in Cambria, Wisconsin, Peter Houston, invented the first roll film camera. His younger brother David, filed the patents for various components of Peter’s camera. David Henderson Houston (born June 14, 1841; died May 6, 1906), originally from Cambria, Wisconsin, patented the first holders for flexible roll film. Houston moved to Hunter in Dakota Territory in 1880. He was issued an 1881 patent for a roll film holder which he licensed to George Eastman (it was used in Eastman’s Kodak 1888 box camera). Houston sold the patent (and an 1886 revision) outright to Eastman for $5000 in 1889. Houston continued developing the camera, creating 21 patents for cameras or camera parts between 1881 and 1902. In 1912 his estate transferred the remainder of his patents to Eastman.

The most popular roll film format is 120 film, which is used in most medium format cameras and roll film magazines for large-format cameras. Until the 1950s, 120 roll film was, with the smaller 127 film, also used in the simplest of box cameras and other snapshot cameras. The use of roll film in consumer cameras was largely superseded by 135 and 126 cartridges, but 120 and 220 (double length) film are still commonly used in medium format cameras (per Wikipedia).

First, a Story:

What did the camera say to the film roll?  Let’s find a dark room and see what develops…

Second, a Song:

Boyce Avenue is an American cover band formed in Sarasota, Florida, by brothers Alejandro Luis Manzano, Daniel Enrique Manzano, and Fabian Rafael Manzano. The brothers attended Pine View School in Osprey, Florida. The band is named after a combination of two streets the brothers lived on as children. As of August 9, 2011, they are no longer signed to Universal Republic Records and have started their own independent record label called 3 Peace Records. Boyce Avenue releases original music as well as covers of contemporary and classic songs on YouTube. They have also collaborated with other YouTube artists such as Hannah Trigwell, Kina Grannis, Tiffany Alvord, Megan Nicole, Alex Goot, Megan and Liz, David Choi, Tyler Ward, Savannah Outen, Cobus Potgieter, John Robby Deleon and DeStorm Power and The X Factor season two finalists Fifth Harmony, Bea Miller, Diamond White, Carly Rose Sonenclar, Jennel Garcia, actress Sarah Hyland, and Connie Talbot.

Boyce Avenue frequently tours in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, and Southeast Asia.

Beatrice Annika Miller (born February 7, 1999) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She came in ninth place on season two of The X Factor (US) when she was 13 years old. She was later signed to Hollywood Records. Her debut EP Young Blood was released in 2014, and her debut album Not an Apology was released on July 24, 2015. In 2016, she released the single “Yes Girl”. During 2017, she released the EPs Chapter One: Blue, Chapter Two: Red, and Chapter Three: Yellow. The three EPs, along with five additional songs, were collected as her second studio album, Aurora.

In 2018, she featured as the lead vocalist on NOTD’s single, “I Wanna Know”, which reached the top 20 in Australia, Belgium and Norway. In 2019, she released the singles “It’s Not U It’s Me” with 6lack, “Feel Something”, “Feels Like Home” with Jessie Reyez and “Never Gonna Like You” with Snakehips. She signed with Olliebear Records and Create Music Group in November 2019 to release the single “That Bitch”.

In October 2020, after the unexpected success of “Feel Something”, Miller would return to releasing under Hollywood Records with the single “Wisdom Teeth”. The song was released as the lead single to Miller’s EP titled, Elated!, which was released on October 23 of that same year.

Edward Christopher Sheeran MBE (born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. He has sold more than 150 million records worldwide, making him one of the world’s best-selling music artists. He has 84.5 million RIAA-certified units in the US,[7] and two of his albums are in the list of the best-selling albums in UK chart history: × at number 20, and ÷ at number 34. In December 2019, the Official Charts Company named him artist of the decade, with the most combined success in the UK album and singles charts in the 2010s.

Sheeran’s debut album, + (pronounced “plus”), was released in September 2011 and topped the UK Albums Chart. It contained his first hit single “The A Team”. In 2012, Sheeran won the Brit Awards for Best British Male Solo Artist and British Breakthrough Act. Sheeran’s second studio album, × (pronounced “multiply”), was released in June 2014 and was named the second-best-selling album worldwide of 2015. In the same year, × won Album of the Year at the 2015 Brit Awards, and he received the Ivor Novello Award for Songwriter of the Year from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors. A single from ×, “Thinking Out Loud”, earned him the 2016 Grammy Awards for Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance.

Sheeran’s third album, ÷ (pronounced “divide”), was released in March 2017, and was the best-selling album worldwide of 2017. The first two singles from the album, “Shape of You” and “Castle on the Hill”, broke records in a number of countries by debuting in the top two positions of the charts. He also became the first artist to have two songs debut in the US top 10 in the same week. By March 2017, Sheeran had accumulated ten top 10 singles from ÷ on the UK Singles Chart, breaking the record for most top 10 UK singles from one album. His fourth single from ÷, “Perfect”, reached number one in the US, Australia and the UK, where it became the Christmas number one in 2017. The world’s best-selling artist of 2017, he was named the Global Recording Artist of the Year. Released in 2019, his fourth studio album No.6 Collaborations Project debuted at number one in most major markets, and spawned three UK number one singles, “I Don’t Care”, “Beautiful People” and “Take Me Back to London”.

Globally, Spotify named him the second most streamed artist of the decade. Beginning in March 2017, his ÷ Tour became the highest-grossing of all time in August 2019. An alumnus of the National Youth Theatre in London, Sheeran’s acting roles include appearing in the 2019 film Yesterday.

“Photograph” is a song by English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran from his second studio album, × (2014). Sheeran wrote the song with Snow Patrol member Johnny McDaid, who had a piano loop from which the composition developed. After recording several versions with other producers, Sheeran eventually solicited help from Jeff Bhasker; the collaboration generated a version that Bhasker further enhanced for months. The ballad derives its music primarily from an acoustic guitar, piano and programmed drums. With visually descriptive lyrics, it discusses a long-distance relationship inspired by Sheeran’s own experience of being away from his then-girlfriend while he was on tour.

The song received generally supportive commentary from critics, who noted the lyrics and Sheeran’s use of love for all people. “Photograph” served as the fifth and final single from the album. It reached the top five on the main singles charts in more than five countries. In the US, where it peaked at number ten, “Photograph” became the third single from the album to have reached within the top ten. In the UK, it reached number fifteen and has since been certified triple platinum. The single has also been certified double platinum in Australia and Canada, and platinum in New Zealand and Italy.

The single’s release on 11 May 2015 followed the premiere of the music video on 9 May 2015. The video is a montage of real home footage of Sheeran’s infancy, childhood and adolescence, providing insight on his private early life, such as his inclination to playing music instruments and fondness of Lego. The video was nominated for Best Video at the 2016 Brit Awards. Sheeran performed the song on television shows and on his x Tour, which ran from 2014 to 2015 (per Wikipedia).

While Ed Sheeran’s original video and performance of “Photograph” is excellent (you can see it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSDgHBxUbVQ), I love this version by Boyce Avenue featuring Bea Miller doing an acoustic cover of “Photograph”.  I hope you enjoy this!

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIA_vrBDC1g)

Thought for the Day:

“You don’t take a photograph, you make it.” – Ansel Adams

Have a great day!

Dave & Colleen

© 2021 David J. Bilinsky and Colleen E. Bilinsky